Prosecutors say police officers chased down a suspect who burglarized a house in Waukegan, tried stealing a resident’s car and also entered other nearby homes.
The Waukegan Police Department responded around 7:55 p.m. on February 25 to a residence for a report of a male suspect who walked into the caller’s home and fled.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Savannah Halcomb said officers received another call from a nearby residence that there was a male suspect going through the backyards of multiple homes.
Officers arrived on the scene and heard shouting at one of the houses and observed a male suspect running away from the shouting.
Officers pursued the suspect and were able to take him into custody and identify him as Brian Mata, 24, of Waukegan, Halcomb said.
The victim told officers that he lives at the residence with his significant other, who remained inside the home while he took his dog outside.
Halcomb said the victim left the residence through the back door of the home’s attached garage. He shut the door to the garage behind him but did not lock it.
The victim then went into the second garage on his property, a detached garage, while the dog was in the yard.
The resident returned to the attached garage to go back into the home when he saw Mata inside the garage, Halcomb said.
Mata had turned on the victim’s car, which was parked in the garage, Halcomb said.
The resident yelled at Mata and the suspect, whom the resident does not know, ran from the garage.
Halcomb said Mata had both key fobs for the victim’s push-to-start vehicle on his person when he was arrested.
Those key fobs were stolen from inside the residence moments prior by Mata, Halcomb said.
Mata told investigators he was drinking and blacked out. Officers noted that while he appeared to be intoxicated at the time, he was not overly intoxicated as he claimed, Halcomb said.
Mata had a pending warrant for a battery case in Lake County at the time of his arrest.
“This defendant poses a real and present threat to the community. He entered multiple residences without permission of the owners while there were people inside of the residences,” Halcomb said.
“He took the key fob of the victim’s car and had turned the car on when the victim caught him,” she said.
Mata was charged with one count of residential burglary, a Class 1 felony, as well as resisting a peace officer and obstructing a peace officer.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Mata following his arrest and it was granted by Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim following a detention hearing.
Mata remains held in the Lake County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court again on May 11.